We are travelling to our next destination with a stop overnight in Buenos Aires again. This gives us time to reflect on what we’ve seen and done so far. One thing we notice is that there are subtle effects of our travel.
Indeed, we wish to experience the disparate cultures we visit but as we do so we recognize that this is a two way street. We are not just flies on the wall but there is a symbiotic effect, whole – part - whole. As we partake, as we more deeply drink from the "Pierian Spring," more so do we impact the culture itself.
For example, some years ago there were no McDonalds here. Then there was one, then two and now nearly every block has one. And tour guides think they are great and THE place to stop.
Yet these are not part of the foreign culture, or are they?
At class this morning we examined energy transport, especially conduction and radiation in the atmosphere. Eventually we will be able to make our own computer model for the climate. Let’s hope that it is the best of our culture that changes others, not the worst. We are indeed having an impact on other cultures.
In the Antarctic we overtly tried to minimize human impact. The Penguins have no fear of us as a male cut in front of us to carry a stone to the nest as if it were candy or flowers for their mate. Their nests are made of small stones and provide drainage. It is neat to see penguins constantly taking stones from one nest to bring to another.
We have time for one more lab session before our plane leaves and will pull the thus-far collected data together and analyze it. Our class is a team, a good team–nobody sits back.
Our students work remarkably well together whether it is looking at photos and sharing them or it is the scientific data. We know how important good data is and we avoid corrupting our files.
We will send more from Costa Rica. We just hated to leave the Antarctic, it calls us back. But we eagerly look forward to the next part of our exploration of this Earth’s climate.
Terry Flower
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